Australian women suffer methanol poisoning in Bali

Two Australian friends on holiday in Bali, Brianna Scott and Katie Linane, thought they were suffering a "horrible hangover" when they woke up on Sunday unable to see or keep food down. However, in a shock turn of events, it's been revealed the girls' cocktails were likely spiked with methanol.

Scott and Linane, both 21 from Ballarat in Victoria, were visiting a popular five-star resort on the Indonesian island when they started feeling sick at around 11pm and decided to head to bed. But when they'd woken up in the morning, things had gone from bad to worse.

"We had vertigo, Katie's vision was blurry and I honestly couldn't see much. I was seeing stars. I thought it must be a bit of heat stroke," Scott told Yahoo News Australia, adding their sight was so bad they weren't able to "use the phone without shutting one eye and holding the phone an arm length away".

Katie Linane and Brianna Scott (Instagram)

It wasn't just their inability that had the young women fearing the worst, with Scott revealing, "we were power spewing and we had the runs".

"It wouldn't stop," she explained. "We just went back to bed to sleep because that's all we could do – we were completely dysfunctional."

Following the nap, the girls decided to eat something in hopes that would cure their illness.

"Katie woke up and wouldn't touch her food, she still had runny bowels, and her eyesight had worsened," Scott explained. "She immediately went into hysterics because she has 20/20 vision and could really tell it wasn't OK."

The girls turned to Facebook group, Just Don't Drink Spirits In Bali, for advice where they learned that their drink may have be methanol.

According to the Methanol Institute, the substance is "deliberately and illegally added to alcoholic beverages as a cheaper alternative to ethanol (normal alcohol that can be consumed)". And in some cases, when too much is consumed, the result can be fatal.

Colin Ahern, who runs the Facebook group, advised Scott and Linane that vodka can "act as a metabolic blocker to methanol", and arranged for them to receive a legitimate bottle of the alcohol.

Before long, the girls' symptoms improved, and they were able to make their way to a hospital their insurance would cover.

Katie Linane and Brianna Scott (Instagram)

"So glad that Brianna and Katie found my page, this could have ended pretty badly," Ahern wrote in a Facebook post. "Top news that both girls are now OK."

Following the scary ordeal, Scott was faced with another horrific encounter, revealing on Instagram she was scammed by a Balinese man, who attempted to take millions of dollars out of her bank account.

"Some Bali man tricked me into thinking the card was still in the machine and told me to enter my pin," she wrote alongside a screenshot of Commbank's notification of the withdrawals and subsequent blocking of her card. "I did… Next minute Usain Bolt down the street."

Scott and Linane's shocking story has served as a warning for travellers, and the Methanol Institute advises to only "purchase alcoholic beverages from trusted retailers, and avoid consuming mixed cocktails, homemade brews, and/or drinks priced far below those of normal/legitimate alcoholic beverages".

This isn't the first report of travellers encountering dodgy drinks. Earlier this year, Hannah Powell revealed to 9 Honey that a drink laced with methanol left her with acute kidney failure and blindness.

"I didn't know what was going on ... and I just remember being really, really scared."